The joy of cold houses

Will the news that energy bills could double usher in a little common sense when it comes to our obsession with central heating? One of Britain’s biggest energy firms has been forced to apologise after suggesting that thrifty customers might want to put on a pair of socks before whacking on the thermostat. 

But we’ve only been namby-pamby about heating for a generation or two. Before then, we wrapped up warm, unashamed. Even when we’re told that Covid is far less transmissible with a bit of extra ventilation, you’d be thought mad for opening a window in the middle of winter. Our schools nowadays are like orchid greenhouses: the wall of heat greeting you as you walk in makes you wonder how anyone does any work at all. But open a window? Not on your life.

So yes, I am now going to show off: in the way that young people say they’re saving the planet by being vegan, I save the planet by only using our central heating when the pipes are on the verge of freezing.