Engineer. Historian. Beer-Drinker. Publican's Friend. Hi-Fi Anorak. Technocrat. Patriot. Improving Husband. Feminist. “The Attenborough of the Relay Room”
London
Joined November 2011
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James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
To the Immortal Memory of Lord Nelson and those who fell with him
#TrafalgarDay
#OTD in 1805
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
#OTD in 1805, the Royal Navy defeated the combined forces of France and Spain at Trafalgar.
The tactical brilliance, professionalism, technology and training which underpinned Adm Lord Nelson’s stunning victory have driven and shaped the Navy ever since.
#TrafalgarDay
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
#OnThisDay 221 yrs ago in 1805 @RoyalNavy was successful in defeating the Franco-Spanish Fleet at #Trafalgar confirming British superiority of the seas. Lord Nelson died before the end, having done his duty, handing over Command to another great commander Admiral Collingwood.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
Today's announcement on the Jackdaw field 👇
Energy Secretary @Miatsf has agreed that the regulator can grant consent for gas to be produced at the licensed Jackdaw field.
Gas from Jackdaw is expected to start reaching British homes and businesses as early as the end of this month.
ALT Jackdaw gas field gets green light to begin production
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
BREAKING: UK government approves the Jackdaw natural gas field in the North Sea — the project, which is effectively built already, was previously quashed over its climate impact.
Next test for London is the approval of the Rosebank oilfield project.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
If you follow me you will know I think UK engineering salaries are terrible, the results of the UK salary survey are in. They are still appalling for the skills engineers bring to companies, but they are increasing slow.
We need to get these increased through, engineers build the modern world and society.
issuu.com/fpga-horizons/docs…
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
An appalling 45% of all RAF Lightnings were lost in accidents. However, somewhat miraculously, thanks to an excellent ejection seat, training, and a role focused more on high altitude, it killed far fewer aircrew than almost any other fighter of its generation @MB_EjectEject
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
How building data centres could cut Britain's sky-high electricity bills by billions:
- Failing electricity use has made electricity more expensive as a fixed costs of supplying power (grid, policy, balancing, etc.) are concentrated on a small share of demand.
- New demand from data centres helps dilute those fixed costs. This could save £2bn a year (£69 per year) if the Government's compute target is hit.
- Data centres are extremely profitable, even at high power prices. They care about speed, but the grid queue can create decade-long delays. Letting companies pay to jump the queue could raise billions.
- Britain could replicate the success of spectrum auctions and sell-off faster grid connections. Accelerating 3GW by 3 years is potentially worth £12bn to data centre builders!
- In the US, tech companies are making large investments in new generation (SMRs, gas, renewables) as states adopt 'bring your own power' policies. Doing the same here could accelerate clean power buildout and fund necessary gas plant renewals.
samdumitriu.com/p/build-the-…
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
The first 20 or so pages of the NESO / Ofgem report published today are a pretty good, acessible, primer on how the UK electricity system works...
...if anyone is wanting a guide, they could do worse than starting here.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
The independent investigation into the whistleblowing allegations against NESO has found no evidence to substantiate them.
It does however raise concerns about culture and governance at NESO which need to be addressed.
Some thoughts 👇
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
Agree the skills pool is thin, but the queue is the bigger distortion. NESO reports 700+ GW in it, tenfold in five years, much of it speculative projects squatting on grid slots. Loughton is the result.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
Planning consents and applied restrictions & a grid that has had negligible transmission capacity added since 1994 due to governments & regulators having zero appetite to forward invest then demand infrastructure doubles in capacity in 50% the time it took to build 1st time.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
The Royal Navy in October 2026: A Paradox of Ambition and Decline
Views my own, comments, corrections and strong debate welcome.
1/25 The Royal Navy of late 2026 is a force of extremes. It operates two large aircraft carriers that are notionally operational, a small number of highly sophisticated Type 45 destroyers and Astute-class attack submarines, and a nuclear deterrent that has never broken Continuous At-Sea Deterrence. At the same time, the surface and subsurface fleets required to protect those carriers, sustain the deterrent and meet routine tasking are thinner, older and less available than at any point since 1945.
This is not the result of a single review or a sudden funding cut. It is the cumulative outcome of decisions stretching back to the late 1970s, accelerated by the 1998 Strategic Defence Review and deepened by the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review.
The Royal Navy has repeatedly chosen exquisite individual platforms over the numbers needed to keep them at sea, deferred hard choices on infrastructure, and operated under a culture in which responsibility is diffused until it disappears.
James Watson CEng, FIET retweeted
Another British Fumble!
£2bn AI data centre in Essex. 23,000 Nvidia chips, planning permission sorted, Microsoft signed up as the anchor tenant
Microsoft has reportedly now walked. Because the grid told them they can't have the power until 2033/34
The government literally named this site in its own AI action plan. They talk about AI growth zones every other week. And we can't get 90MW to a field in Essex for 8 years
Same story as the reservoirs. We don't build the boring stuff, so the exciting stuff can't happen here
