I don't like to say 'I told you so', but the Ukraine crisis underscores much of what we've been saying recently about the British government's energy policy. Basically, a couple of years back the outgoing energy minister, Michael Meacher, decided to be true to his anti-nuclear principles and commit the government to phasing out all its nuclear power capacity over the next 20 years.

What would fill the gap? Well, don't go too deeply into the sums, but the government thought that gas from the East might do the job. At least until new wonder-sources of energy (like those wind turbines that are polluting every decent view in Britain) start becoming remotely efficient thanks to government subsidies. And already, new pipelines were already marching West from the new gas and oil fields there.

Slight snag here. Britain is of course at the end of the pipeline, so anyone in between could turn the tap off. Not to worry, though, because the gas goes through 'stable' countries. Like Ukraine. And now, about a third of Europe's gas comes through Ukraine.

If you want to keep the lights on, you must have a diversity of supply for your energy. That means not having to rely on a single source like gas. It means having a sensible nuclear capability and lots of other sources. The Ukraine crisis makes it abundantly clear that the UK government will have to u-turn (again) and start building new nuclear power stations. Remember, you read it here first.