Joanna Lumley and the art of food rationing

Well done, Joanna Lumley. The 75-year-old actress has solved the climate crisis. She proposes a return to wartime rationing when shoppers had to surrender government coupons whenever they bought meat, sugar, petrol, bread and even soap.

‘You’re given a certain amount of points,’ she told the Radio Times, ‘and it’s up to you how to spend them, whether it’s on a bottle of whisky or flying in an aeroplane.’

It sounds ideal. We can defeat the climate crisis by tightening our belts and agreeing to a common set of rules. And on Thursday evenings we’ll stand on our doorsteps flapping our ration-books and cheering like maniacs. However, it’s likely that double standards will emerge. The elite will grant exemptions to themselves and their families. During the war, food rationing excluded the hospitality trade so anyone dining in a restaurant could order as they pleased because the ration-book was only demanded in high street shops.