THE LATEST NEWS AND VIEWS BROUGHT TO YOU BY COLIN ASHMORE

摘要

The headlong rush to buy, beg, borrow or steal any form of portable air-conditioning or even a humble desk-fan to give some electrically-powered respite from this past summer's terribly un-British temperatures, is being replaced by the usual pessimistic predictions of foul winter weather to come. Although the fried-egg-on-pavement syndrome in the UK and continental Europe brought its own problems, at least our lights stayed on, fans and fridges continued to hum and the wheels of industry trundled round as usual. However, for some 50 million citizens in the richest country on Earth, last August was a indeed a month to remember, as the time when it all went completely pear-shaped for the electrical power supply industry in the US of A.