Warm Horse

I was so relieved to hear the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, whatever the fuck that means, Nadhim Zahawi announce that we won’t be having power cuts this winter. Phew. No scrabbling around trying to find candles whilst we’re listening to the wireless or indeed freezing to death. He says: “I am confident the (energy) resilience is there, that people can enjoy their Christmas“. That’s clear enough, then. Zahawi is confident, presumably the same confidence he must have felt when claiming parliamentary expenses to keep his horses warm. So don’t worry. He adds that energy blackouts would only happen with “several things having to align in a bad way“. And that never happens in politics. Does it?

The minister for the Victorian age, Jacob Rees-Mogg, agreed to a £15 million public information film to help people get by this winter by using less fuel. You know the kind of thing: turn the thermostat down a bit, have a bath with your entire family, that kind of thing. But mad woman prime minister Liz Truss felt this was a step too far, the nanny state intruding in people’s lives. Let the people choose, she said, in telling Rees -Mogg to stick his plan where the sun doesn’t shine. I would have thought that with enormous fuel bills and the chance of winter blackouts, however small, it would be a worth spending a few quid on encouraging the good folk of the UK to be careful, with a few simple hints and tips, would be A Good Thing. But no. Truss, who allowed her chancellor, KamiKwasi Kwarteng, to piss away £65 billion of our money when his budget almost destroyed millions of people’s pensions, thought it wasn’t a good idea. The policy is now very simple: hope for the best.

Now, we are in the ludicrous position whereby thousands, perhaps millions, of people will be unable to afford heating bills this week or may even be suffer blackouts even if they can, while Nadhim Zahawi, who is worth circa £100 million, can turn up the heating in his stables to ensure his horses don’t suffer. Britain today after 12 years of Conservative government has become a mad house.

Let’s hope that several things don’t align in a bad way. With this government’s record, I won’t be holding my breath that they won’t.