Wood Burning

I'm not sure how environmentally friendly or otherwise our woodburner is. It's one suitable for smokeless zones, so is very efficient - hardly any ash and not much smoke. The alternative is gas or electricity that is generated by goodness knows what methods - though we do pay the tiny premium for ostensibly green power. And a tree left on the earth would rot in the long term and produce plenty of gases without warming us up.

In full money-saver mode I refuse to buy kindling. A sack of this costs about £5 from garages and shops, if I take 10 minutes and a sharp axe I can make the same amount, and generally thinner so it lights better, using only a couple of pieces of wood that cost maybe 50p between them.

This morning we had a fire in the burner to cheer Monday breakfast and warm the place up, the temperature has dropped a few degrees in the last couple of days. I must admit that as well as the practical immediate economic benefits - we have lots of trees whose trimmings are dried for burning - I had an eye to future unrest in the world when I suggested buying it. Private Eye seems to be the only publication pointing out that unless the politicians get their fingers out and rapidly the lights are going to go out in the next few years. And if push comes to shove I reckon I could cook on it - one pot stuff, quick fried or, with a heat diffuser, slower stews. What a depressing thought, but one I would guess I am not alone in having.

When the lights do go out how will the politicians cope? In the most creative and useful way they know - blaming the other side, using researchers to dig out 10 year old pronouncements to prove their fatuous cases. David Cameron will be able to burn some of his money, and as everything beyond Oxford and Westminster is outside his experience Ed Milliband will have to ask his team what fire is for. Nick Clegg will look worried and nod a lot.