Old Glaswegian joke:
‘Put your hat and coat on, lassie, I’m off to the pub.’
‘That’s nice — are you taking me with you?’
‘No, I’m just switching the central heating off while I’m oot.’
Late last year we bought a little holiday flat on the Kent coast. After I had furnished it with all the essentials — fibre-optic broadband, a large television, a Nespresso machine and a couple of random chairs — I looked for an excuse to buy some new gadgetry which I hadn’t tried before.
Given that the place is often empty during the week and was always chilly in the winter for a few hours after we arrived, I thought I would try one of the internet-controllable central heating thermostats you will have seen lavishly advertised recently. Google recently paid about £2 billion for Nest Labs, one of the firms developing this technology.
Get Britain's best politics newsletters
Register to get The Spectator's insight and opinion straight to your inbox. You can then read two free articles each week.
Already a subscriber? Log in
Comments
Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months
Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.
UNLOCK ACCESS Just $5 for 3 monthsAlready a subscriber? Log in