There is the usual excellent article from Martin Wolf in today's FT. Sadly most of it is behind the firewall - but the crux of his argument is that economic development - as we have known it over the last century has essentially been about increasing energy use. Between 1900 and 2000 energy use increased eighteen fold, and gross global product and purchasing power parity nineteen-fold.

The prospects are for a continued rise in energy use - on some predictions five-fold over the course of the next century.

So the world economy is going to hit energy constaints in the next few decades.

In terms of energy intensity (the ratio of GDP/energy consumption) the UK is already more efficient than most of the world. This is essentially a result of the move from industry to services that happens in mature economies, and partly because of the way we have priced energy in the UK.

This does not necessarily protect us from an energy shock (where do all those manufactured goods come from?)

Wolf promises to come back to this topic: but his initial conclusion is the title to this piece.

There is a dilemma here for us. Unilateralism on energy use will achieve nothing - and yet a significant part of the electorate want to see at least symbolic action.

My guess is that the focus will shift to security of supply quite rapidly over the next decade. We will need to be ready for a shift in the terms of the argument.